Linh grew up in the quiet and beautiful countryside of Vietnam, a stark contrast to the challenges she faced at home. Her father battled mental illness and alcoholism and did not provide for the family, so they had deep financial struggles. At 14-years-old, Linh quit school to work at a local coffee shop in order to earn money for her parents.

When Linh’s father became ill, his costly medical treatments drove the family even deeper into debt. Determined to help, Linh traded the quiet of her village for a shoe factory in Hanoi where she endured tough conditions for four long years. When the Covid pandemic struck, Linh lost her job. In addition to this, her sister became very ill with an undiagnosed heart problem and suddenly died, devastating the entire family! The added hospital and funeral expenses caused the already insurmountable debt to become even worse.

Grief-stricken Linh scoured the internet hoping to find a way to make money; she even considered selling her kidney! Desperate for high-paying employment, she scrolled through Facebook for job offers. When she was contacted by someone promising a lucrative opportunity abroad, Linh traveled far from home to Hanoi where she was picked up by some men in a car. They threatened her at gunpoint and drove her illegally across the border into Myanmar. She was sold to a brothel in an area notorious as a hub for human trafficking. Linh had never even had a boyfriend and was told that her virginity would be sold to the highest bidder! She was terrified, trapped, and alone. The next 12 months of her life were a blur, and the drugs administered by her captors numbed the pain and distress of her helpless and exploitative situation. Linh was not in contact with her family and just wanted to die.

The brothel owners pressured Linh to recruit others into the trafficking network, but she refused to have any part of forcing someone else into the nightmare she was living. She wanted to go home and one day found a way to run. Can you even imagine her desperation to get back to Vietnam? But how could she get home without a passport? While trying to make her way back to her family, she was caught by the police and spent four months in immigration custody. Eventually, Linh was released and found sanctuary with our human trafficking partner in Yangon.

Linh arrived at our partner’s ministry straight from police custody without shoes and had only the clothes on her back. The police officers had stolen her phone! She finally received much-needed food, shelter, trauma counseling, and art therapy, all given with lots of compassion. Our partner’s beautiful ministry is truly an oasis in the midst of a brutal desert for those rescued from human trafficking. Many victims who come through the doors ask why such a place exists. They are told about the love of our Savior and how He became salvation for each one of us.